La voix de la mer creator stoked for French fest

Pubnico writer-director ‘privileged’ by chance to take musical to Semaine Acadienne

On a scale of one to 10, Yvette d’Entremont’s level of excitement is 20.

The singer and teacher has been invited to take La voix de la mer, the large-scale original musical she wrote and directed, to Semaine Acadienne, a week-long festival in Saint-Aubin-Sur-Mer, in Normandy, France, in August.

“It’s a huge honour,” says d’Entremont, by phone from her home in Pubnico.

“I feel so privileged to be representing my Acadian region. It’s a big job to show how we live and what we’re all about.”

She says she thinks it’s the first time the festival, that this year features performers from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, British Columbia and Saint Pierre and Miquelon, as well as Nova Scotia, has had a full original musical.

And La voix de la mer, which debuted in April 2013 at l’Ecole secondaire de Par-en-bas in Tusket, was a first for the region as an original musical in French, she says, noting it featured 22 students and eight adults.

A slimmed-down cast of 15, 10 young people, aged 14 to 21, and five adults, as well as two stage helpers, accompanied by friends and family, will leave for France Aug. 7 and return Aug. 16.

They’ll give two full performances and will be part of a large concert for peace in celebration of the landing in Normandy 70 years ago of Canadian soldiers.

“Saint Aubain was liberated by a regiment from New Brunswick with a lot of Acadians, so they feel grateful to us and do the Acadian Fest,” d’Entremont explains, noting the group will do three numbers in the concert for peace on Aug. 9

She and the cast will also sing lively Acadian songs at a concert at Juno Beach, she’ll do a solo performance, and on Aug. 15, Acadian Day, the group will sing at a mass dedicated to the Acadians and in the closing ceremonies.

Nova Scotians can catch excerpts at Grand Pre’s Acadian Days on Sunday.

Admission to the site is free for a day of activities and the group will sing eight songs from La voix de la mer, beginning at 1:40 p.m.

For over 20 years, d’Entremont has been writing plays for students which included a few musical numbers. In 2009, she directed a French musical version of Romeo and Juliet with a cast of 45 students and teachers at Th’YARC in Yarmouth for six sold-out shows.

That started her thinking about doing a musical of her own and she built it around a song she wrote a decade ago, La voix de la Mer, about the voice that calls to people who live by the sea and brings them together.

“The voice helps us overcome tragedies; we live by the voice and for it.”

Once she had a storyline, more songs evolved, songs that are sweet and tender, upbeat or jazzy, funny songs and party songs, and even a version of Ave Maria sung by a group of children who pray like their grandparents did before them before one of their number goes out to sea.

La voix de la mer centres around Simon, who feels obliged to fish, even though he doesn’t like it. His younger brother wants to go to sea and convinces Simon to let him go instead.

There is a storm at sea and the younger brother falls overboard and is lost.

The captain and another fisherman blame themselves for not being able to hold onto the young man, while Simon is devastated and feels responsible for his brother’s death.

The community gathers around and it ends on a positive note, says d’Entremont, who will act and direct while in France.

Hovering above it all is the Voice, played by 14 year-old Emily Adams of Pubnico.

“I’m not really a ghost, but I’m only seen by one person and I have to help that one person through the troubles he has since his brother was lost at sea,” says Emily, who will travel to France with her mother Jacinthe Adams and grandmother Elaine Surette of Pubnico.

Emily, who was invited by d’Entremont to be in the play, has “a fantastic voice that tears at your heartstrings,” says the director.

Simon is played by Corey Wilson, 18. Jessica LeBlanc, 19, is the girlfriend of the lost sailor. Jaryd d’Entremont, 20, is the captain and Leo LeBlanc, 18, is his buddy on the boat, who, with the captain, desperately tried to hold on to the younger brother.

“Leo and Jaryd are the rocks for the show. They are a big presence on the boat and break the news to the families. You can feel their presence on stage,” says d’Entremont.

The ECMA-nominated singer says she still has to pinch herself when she thinks of the upcoming trip. “It’s like a dream.”